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Apple Already Shipping Liquidmetal with Some iPads

Last week we found out that Apple had signed an exclusive deal to use LiquidMetal in its products. LiquidMetal is a brand name of Californian Liquidmetal Technologies, and is an alloy manufactured to cool into a glass-like structure. It is incredibly hard, light and stiff. And it turns out that Apple has already used it in a product.

In some iPad packages shipped in North America, the SIM-card ejector-tool is made from the stuff, according to Cult of Mac supremo Leander Kahney. Apple wanted to test out the miracle material on a non-essential part as it requires at least two sources for its parts, and Liquidmetal is only available in one place.

According to Kahney, Liquidmetal’s co-inventor Atakan Peker saw the pin and recognized it right away. “That’s my metal,” he said. “Take it from an expert, that’s Liquidmetal.”

I have a U.S. iPad 3G, and can confirm that the SIM-ejector-too is indeed light and stiff, and almost impossible to bend. I was unable to test whether or not I become invisible when wearing it as a ring, as my human-sized fingers are far too big.

It’s hard to know what Apple is up to with this material, but given the company’s innovations in this area, from the unibody aluminum “bricks” to the iPhone 4s glass backplate, it pretty certain Apple has something in mind. Then again, it could just be an early Christmas present from Steve Jobs to Jonathan Ive, who is famously enthusiastic about the materials he works with.